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Tuesday, March 5, 2019

Amidst
the manufactured fury and ‘josh’ of cinematic jingo-nationalist glory all
through January (‘Uri’, ‘Thackeray’, ‘The Accidental Prime Minister’) and then
somber moment of Pulwama terrorist attacks and counter (surgical) strikes being
turned to new levels of political frenzy; was the recent release and commercial
success of Hindi film ‘Gully Boy’ (directed by acclaimed director Zoya Akhtar).
No wonder that remarkable success of
this film did little to shape the public conversation at large. The film which
takes on serious issues of class, urban ghettos, patriarchy, and
counter-cultural forms of expressions of the underground in a serious manner
and gravitas was clearly at odds with cheer-leading Hindu Majoritarian consumer
middle class mobs that matter for box offices. Cinematic critical acclaim and
commercial success aside, this film deserves a larger conversation and debate
and here is my attempt to pen down a few thoughts in this regard.

Monday, March 4, 2019

Consider, to begin with, a fictional story. Imagine
that there is a multi-specialty hospital with several different departments,
each manned by qualified doctors with their appropriate specializations. The
hospital board then appoints a new Director, who is himself a qualified
surgeon. This Director then issues a circular stating that in order to raise
the standards of medical care and to speed up treatment, in every department of
the hospital, surgery will now be the compulsory mode of treatment for all patients
and ailments. Further, the circular states that any medication, counselling or
physiotherapy will only be prescribed to prepare the patient for surgery and as
part of post-operative care. In response to initial murmurs of protest,
additional instructions are issued stating that since every doctor has at the
least a basic M.B.B.S degree, no one can contest their ability to perform
surgery and any refusal to use this procedure will invite strict disciplinary
action. All objections based on sound medical procedure that surgery should not
be prescribed for every case, are overruled. In fact, even before there could
be any discussion about it, a tender notice is issued inviting bids from
contractors to build operation theaters in every department.As justification for his decision, the
Director cites his own experience of having conducted a number of successful
surgeries and the wonderful technologies that have now become available for
them. He asserts that his experience and knowledge, along with his position as
Director, makes him a “Competent Authority” to issue the said circular. He also
says that there is no legislation or authority dealing with medical care that
explicitly debars him from issuing such a circular. Instead, he is vested with
greater responsibility than anyone else in the hospital to ensure that medical
care of the highest standards are offered and accordingly enjoys special
discretionary powers.

Sunday, March 3, 2019

Sandeep Wathar, an Assistant Professor of Civil Engineering
at VPDPGH College of Engineering and Technology, Karnataka is against war. He
was attacked by members of the ABVP and BJP on 2 March 2019 inside the college
campus for his alleged ‘anti-national’ social media posts. Sandeep had
criticized the BJP government for fomenting war hysteria. As a junior faculty
in his thirties, his position is vulnerable. His appeal for solidarity from
wider society compelled us to conduct the following interview. It is a brief
testament to what fascist victimization looks like in every corner of India
today.

Saturday, March 2, 2019

The current NPA problem
suggests two distinct characteristics. These are, the non-performance of large
loans, mainly corporate loans as primary reason behind accumulation of NPA in
Indian Scheduled Commercial Banks (SCBs), and substantial volume of NPAs
accumulated by the Public Sector Banks (PSBs). As per recent data, large
borrowers constituted more than 54.6 per cent of the total loans disbursed by
the SCBs and 83.4 percent of the large loans have turned NPAs. These large
borrowers are found to be the source of high NPA in the banking sector.

There has been a
perception that the non-performance of large loans, mainly corporate loans is
because of weak corporate performance. Predominantly, it is the weak corporate
performance that has constrained the corporate sector to serve its debt. Therefore,
it is a genuine case of weak corporate balance sheet leading to loan defaults. A
study of the balance sheet of the borrowers, in this case the companies or
firms however do not suggest any serious crisis in the corporate sector which
could have constrained them in paying back their borrowed loans.

Saturday, February 9, 2019

Modi led central government is approaching
the end of its five-year term. At the time of its coming to power it had
promised a significant change in India’s position in International politics. During
elections campaign Narendra Modi gave the impression of a ‘tough’ leader who
would keep “India First” and would never compromise on the issues of national significance‘unlike
in the past’. The protection and promotion of ‘national interest’ was to be the
sole motto of this government. After the election results were declared BJP got
majority in the Lok Sabha making it the only party to do so in the last three
decades. All these facts and declarations inflated the expectations of the
analysts and common people from the government. In the initial months a kind of
blitzkrieg of media campaigns helped in consolidating this image.Throughout his
term Modi visited unprecedented number of countries (according to official data
around 84 till 2018) apparently to pave the way for greater and meaningful
engagements with them. Each time Modi visited a country Indian media went gaga
about it selling the government version about its historicity and importance.
On certain occasions such visits were prioritized even over critical moments at
home. For example, immediately after announcing the demonetization Modi left
for Japan in November 2016. However, despite all these hullabaloo and pomp the
effects of all those visits on India’s status in international politics and in
its economic development are invisible. However, most of the foreign policy
commentators are yet not ready to call the bluff. Given the high expectations
and high voltage campaign of a successful foreign policy carried out by this
government it is pertinent to take a stock of the real situation now. In this
context, present article is the first in the series of four articles attempting
to analyze four different and defining aspects of India’s foreign policy-India
and its Neighbors, India and China, India and the USA and Indiaand its anti-Imperialist
Commitments-during Modi regime to put the record straight and clear.

Editorial

How do we see the world? It is neither a gaze, nor is it to invent the predetermined truth, it is to intervene from a position. Our seeing is changing at the same time and without any claim to excavate the unadulterated truth that never existed.
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